New Zealand’s strengths
The home team New Zealand will be the next opponent of the Vietnamese women’s team in a series of friendly matches to prepare for the 2023 World Cup. Compared to the German women’s team that Mr. Mai Duc Chung’s teachers and students competed on June 24, New Zealand. have been underestimated when ranked 26th in the world. The New Zealand women’s team is also not in good form with a 10-match winless streak in all competitions.
The last time New Zealand enjoyed the joy of winning was in September 2022. The defeat of the team nicknamed “The Ferns” is the Philippines, the remaining Southeast Asian representative along with Vietnam has tickets to the 2023 World Cup.
The New Zealand women’s team is very physically fit
However, the New Zealand women’s team is still rated higher than the Vietnamese women’s team. First of all, even though they did not win 10 matches in a row, the students of coach Jitka Klimkova mainly met very strong teams such as the US (2 matches), Portugal, Argentina, Nigeria or South Korea.
Choosing a tough opponent for a friendly shows that the New Zealand women’s team does not focus on winning, but wants to play a friendly with a strong team to gain experience in the first time hosting the Women’s World Cup. This is the sixth time the New Zealand women’s team has participated in the World Cup. In the previous 5 times, “The Ferns” were eliminated in the group stage, winning only 3 draws and losing 12 matches in 15 matches in the World Cup final round. That said, the New Zealand women’s team, although attending the World Cup regularly, still has many shortcomings. Friendly matches against the US or Portugal are for coach Klimkova and his students to solve outstanding problems.
Of the 23 players registered for the World Cup who will participate in a friendly match tomorrow (July 10), up to 10 faces will be able to “breathe” the atmosphere at the biggest women’s football festival on the planet for the first time, were handpicked after 9 weeks of continuous training in Auckland and they are all quality faces.
The New Zealand women’s team has faced many strong teams before the World Cup
Coach Jitka Klimkova said: “I believe we have chosen the right balance of youth and experience in the squad, from the 10 players making their debut in the World Cup to the other members of the squad that have already appeared. currently many previous FIFA tournaments We played 23 matches during this period, 16 of which were higher ranked teams This is a young team in the process of learning and growing. However, they are all very qualified and ready for the journey ahead, especially the Women’s World Cup at home.”
Counter
The main style of play of the New Zealand women’s team is to attack with long passes along the field, taking advantage of the ability to press and make a wall of the striker line to overwhelm the opponent. With a team of players with uniform body shape, New Zealand is very strong in hand-to-hand combat. The weakness of the team coached by Ms. Klimkova is the organization in the play. This is a gap that the Vietnamese women’s team can exploit.
During the training days in New Zealand, in addition to the offensive coordination exercises taking advantage of the typical skillful maneuverability, the Vietnamese women’s team also trained their physical strength, ability to collide and withstand pressure very well. dual. According to fitness expert Cedric Roger, the players have improved, becoming more confident and more active with their handling on the field.
The match against New Zealand will be difficult in that, the players must maintain their quality in cold weather (leading to faster physical decline), and confidently deploy their play against the opponent. has a fierce collision style with a European twist.
This is also a test of the ability to contest, maintain a physical foundation against an opponent who is very familiar with the climate as well as against the ball – the factor that coach Mai Duc Chung is “headache” for his students in the tournament. The context of midfielder Chuong Thi Kieu has not fully recovered. The match at McLean Park will bring useful lessons, helping the Vietnamese women’s team to accumulate more on the journey towards the 2023 World Cup.